Automated Diamond Turning Lathe for the Production of Copper Accelerator Cells--DAC Vision, Inc., 6390 Rose Lane, Carpinteria, CA 93013; 805-684-8307
Mr. James Bryan, Principal Investigator
Mr. James W. Drain, Business Official
DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-99ER82774
Amount: $750,000

Copper accelerator cells, like many sub-micron tolerance metal parts, are now manually produced on research quality, single-point, diamond-turning lathes. The process is slow and costly, and finished part quality is inconsistent due to required human intervention. In this project, a high volume production, diamond-turning lathe for sub-micron tolerence metal parts will be built. It will feature automated operation and will be optimized for the mass production of copper accelerator cells. In Phase I, the specifications and conceptual design of the machine was completed. Problems concerning thermal stability, geometric error reduction, part holding accuracy, repeatability at the sub-micron level, automated part loading and unloading, and rapid cutting speeds were addressed. In Phase II, the machine will be built and tested. Performance will be demonstrated by cutting and evaluating actual parts.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The automated turning lathe could reduce the cost of machining accelerator cells for the next generation linear collider by an order of magnitude, potentially saving tens of millions of dollars. This tool should also be valuable to other industries that require precision metal parts, such as those used in disk and tape drives, precision optics, and medical implants.